What issues were brought up and what evidence given in the challenge?

[berniew1]

And did they only talk about Ohio?

Florida had more touchscreen fraud http://www.flcv.com/fraudpat.html
Mercer Co. Pennsylvania had the worst voter suppression
http://www.flcv.com/mercerco.html
New Mexico had the most obvious case of stolen election
http://www.flcv.com/fraudpat.html
http://www.helpamericarecount.org/NewMexicoData/NewMexicoGeneralElection.pdf

[Zookeeper]

1. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch all of it...

what I did hear seemed to focus on long lines and lack of voting machines. There were a couple of references to the lack of a paper trail.

The Rethugs in the House were close to hysteria and kept saying it was "just Ohio" and there weren't enough irregularities to have made a difference anyway. However, Harry Reid brought up problems in his home state of Nevada. And most of us know that there were thousands of complaints from across the country, but the Dems did keep it focused on Ohio.

I never heard any statements about the questionable role the voting machine companies and their technicians played. Perhaps they were trying to avoid lawsuits for defamation, but that is something that needs to be exposed, as I think most Americans would be very disturbed by that kind of manipulation.

[berniew1]

2. Why hasn't the media covered the obvious vote machine fraud that was

widespread?? And why don't people seem more concerned about it?
Have people not looked at the documentation?

[kuozzman]

3. That may have been intentional. I think the most significant thing

that happened today was the fact that Dems were focusing on things like machine shortages for blacks/poor, long line, misinformation, more votes than voters, etc., never mentioned "fraud" and every single person made it clear they didn't think it swung the election. Just simple and straight forward-voters deserve better.

But then any Republican who stood up would go on a huge rant about how absurd our claims were. I think every one said "conspiracy theory". DeLay was the worst-here's some of his quotes:

"It is just the second day of the 109th Congress, and the first chance of the Democrat congressional leadership to show the American people what they have learned since President Bush’s historic reelection, but they have turned to what might be called the “X-Files Wing” of the Democrat Party to make their first impression."

"Rather than substantive debate, Democrat leaders are still adhering to a failed strategy of spite, obstruction, and conspiracy theories."

"They accuse the president — who, we are told, is apparently a closet computer nerd — of personally overseeing the development of vote-stealing software."

"We are told, without any evidence, that unknown Republican agents stole the Ohio election and that its electoral votes should be awarded to the winner of an exit poll instead."

"The petitioners claim they act on behalf of disenfranchised voters, but no such voter disenfranchisement occurred in the election of 2004 or for that matter, the election of 2000. Everybody knows it. The voters know it. The candidates know it. The courts know it. The evidence proves it."

"If, as now appears likely, Democrats cry fraud and corruption every election regardless of the evidence, what will happen when one day voters are routinely intimidated, rights are denied, or, God forbid, an election is robbed?"

"What will happen, when, God forbid, this quadrennial crying wolf so poisons our democratic processes that a similarly frivolous petition in a close election in the future is actually successful, and the American people are denied their constitutional right to choose their president?"

"A dangerous precedent is being set today, and it needs to be curbed.
Because Democrat leaders aren’t just hurting themselves."

"By their irresponsible tactics, they hurt the House, they hurt the nation, and they hurt rank-and-file Democrats at kitchen tables around the country. The American people, and their ancestors who invented our miraculous system of government, deserve better."

[FreepFryer]

5. "Democrat Leaders" vs. "Democratic Party Leaders"...

...if they keep using the malformed 'Democrat Party' meme, I say we get our Dem pols to start calling them 'Repugs'.

Transparent, vile framing (the most widespread, obvious GOP frame in the recent past). Needs to stop.

[genieroze]

8. DeLay is strange and he exaggerated to point of outright lying. eom

[Zookeeper]

9. DeLay is really a piece of work....

I pointed out to my kids when we watched the C-Span replay that he used fear-mongering RW buzzwords and shamelessly lied throughout his entire speech. He made a stunning comment about how the Congresspeople were acting on orders from the, "High Command in Washington"....WTF? Who exactly would that be, since we currently have a One-Party rule? He also said this was a, "direct attack to undermine Democracy."

DeLay really is the King of the Partisans, as he finds it perfectly acceptable to babble vicious lies as long as it benefits the Rethugs. I was happy to point out to my kids that DeLay is a crook who may be faced with Ethics charges.

[FreepFryer]

4. Information about those other states is immaterial to the OH challenge...

...unless the other evidence corroborates allegations of crime within OH.

I don't think the Conyers report details other states, except in the context of supporting material for OH's irregularities.

(all imho)

[berniew1]

6. Why did Ohio get so much attention, when N. Mexico and Florida were as bad

[FreepFryer]

7. a few reasons, I would say (off the top of my head):

I wonder if any of these may be relevant, or even completely accurate. To my understanding they are:

1. Ohio was long identified as the battleground state of '04. A great deal of the fraud and irregularities happened there.

2. The officials in those states did not commit the kind of persistent crimes as Blackwell, Damshroder and the Triadians, as far as I am aware.

3. Given the lack of Federal Election Protection, Florida's own laws must have been broken in order to contest the votes on the basis of 'votes not regularly given'. Florida proved itself in 2000 to be nearly impenetrable legally, and the kinds of abuses there (with significant exceptions like those ~50,000 absentee ballots lost in the mail) were more exit polls/procedural in nature, and therefore hard to represent in human terms.